Dzing! - L'Artisan Parfumeur

Image credit - stegosauruspress.files.wordpress.com:trapeze_artists_in_circus

Dzing was launched in 1999 as Desir de Cirque and was created by Olivia Giacobetti, a lady well known for her fairly ethereal creations, who has done a lot of work for L'Artisan and more recently, Honore des Pres. The notes for Dzing! are listed as ginger, white cedar, fresh toffee caramel, daffodil, saffron, benzoin, musks and leather. The associations with the circus are fairly obvious, if to my nose a slightly cleansed version, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Having said that, this extremely original and unusual fragrance is still quite dirty and evocative. It opens with a smell a bit like damp cardboard and dirt. It sweetens a bit after this and the leather comes to the fore quite quickly, but its not a smoky leather; its more like the smell of riding tack and stables. As I said, this is vaguely animalic, but not in a dirty, unwashed way. Rather, it reminds me a bit like the smell of a pen where animals have been kept previously, but no longer. The toffee note is possibly meant to evoke the smell of candy floss, but I don't really find this is the case. It is compelling though, and slightly unusual in its pairing with the leather, saffron and daffodil. I find it a bit disconcerting actually; it leaves me with a vague sense of unease, as if something unusual is about to happen. Weird, I know. 


The heart of the fragrance is probably its most circusy and animalic phase, where the toffee and leather really amp up with the joining of the musks. Still, it is a bit odd-ball and unsettling, which is part of its appeal to me. If anything, the leather and musks intensify into the dry down, at least on my skin. That circus vibe never totally leaves me and when I'm in the wrong sort of mood I can find it a bit cloying, but I can't deny that this is one of the most unique and challenging perfumes I have worn. It comes highly recommended by me, but I'm not sure this is an easy one to pull off. I also couldn't see it being a daily or signature scent for me, but out of all L'Artisans' creations of this period, Dzing! really stands out and is surely a must-try for anyone seriously interested in perfume.